Biosciences Staff Profile

Dr Gary Robinson is a Senior Lecturer in Microbial Technology within the School of Biosciences (0.5 FTE) and is the Technology Transfer Manager of the University (O.5 FTE).

Gary has been a lecturer since 1994 and has worked in the field of applied microbiology covering areas as diverse as microbial transformations for the production of high value-added compounds to the biocontrol of the housefly, Musca domestica. Current research is focused on the understanding and application of quorum sensing within microbial systems with PhD students funded by the NERC and the EU and a development project fully funded by industry. Dr Robinson has worked with a variety of small and large companies including Pfizer, Smith Kline Beecham, Quest international, Unilever, Reckitt Benckiser, Whatman and Genzyme. Dr Robinson has extensive experience of measuring (trace) analytes from the (bio)pharmaceutical (eg proteins, peptides and drug metabolites) and environmental (eg PCBs, PAHs, volatiles) sectors as well as the enumeration and identification of a wide variety of microbial species (bacterial and fungal) in a diversity of matrices (soil, sediment, food, beverage and clinical).

Gary is a member of the Microbial Pathogenesis Group.

Orcid ID – 0000-0003-2660-7778

Dr Jeremy Rossman  joined the School of Biosciences in November 2011 as a Lecturer in Virology. He received a Ph.D. in Emerging Infectious Diseases from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (Bethesda, Maryland, USA) for his studies on T lymphocyte signal transduction (2006). Following his Ph.D., he conducted postdoctoral research with Prof. Robert Lamb at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA) where he investigated the mechanisms of influenza virus budding (2006-2011). His current research focuses on the role of morphology on the influenza virus lifecycle and pathogenesis.

Jeremy is a member of the Microbial Pathogenesis Group.

ORCID ID: 0000-0001-6124-4103

Dr. Mark Shepherd joined the School of Biosciences in 2011. He was born in England, was brought up in North Wales, and subsequently studied Biochemistry at the University of Sheffield (1996-1999). He stayed in the Department of Molecular Biology & Biotechnology to undertake a PhD with Professor Neil Hunter FRS (1999-2003), where he developed his interest in the enzymology and spectroscopy of chlorophyll and haem biosynthesis. After completing his PhD studies, he conducted postdoctoral research with Prof. Harry Dailey at the University of Georgia (2003-2005), where his research focussed on the terminal enzymes of haem biosynthesis. This was followed by a move back to the University of Sheffield in 2005 to take up a postdoctoral position with Prof. Robert Poole, where he developed interests in E. coli respiration, globin proteins, and the response of bacteria to nitric oxide. A subsequent position at the University of Queensland (2010-2011) with Prof. Mark Schembri focussed on nitric oxide stress in Uropathogenic E. coli. In 2011 he moved to the University of Kent, where he is a Lecturer in Microbial Biochemistry, a member of the Microbial Pathogenesis Group, and Programme Director for the MSc Infectious Diseases course.

Location: Stacey G18

Twitter: @ShepherdLabKent
Orchid: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7472-2300

Professor Mark Smales is currently Professor of Industrial Biotechnology in the School of Biosciences at the University of Kent. The group headed by Mark has a number of on-going projects whose objectives are to further advance our understanding of biotechnological products and processes at the fundamental biological or chemical level to enable their manipulation and control for improved biotherapeutic recombinant protein yields and quality. His group in particular focusses upon the investigation of cultured mammalian cells for the purposes of producing biotherapeutic proteins for the treatment of disease and for the generation of diagnostics. This includes upstream and downstream bioprocessing and embracing and utilising novel technologies such as genome editing to engineering cell systems and tune them for the desired use.

Mark is Director of the Industrial Biotechnology Centre and a member of the Industrial Biotechnology and Synthetic Biology Research Group.

ORCID ID: 0000-0002-2762-4724

Dr. Anastasios (Tasos) Tsaousis will be joining the School on the 1st of July 2013.

As an undergraduate student Anastasios studied Biology at University of Crete, Greece (1999-2003). There, he had the opportunity to complete his final year project on “studying mtDNA recombination in the mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis”. On completion of his undergraduate studies he started working at the Cyprus Institute of Neurology and Genetics as a Research Technician where he was involved in different projects in the field of Human Genetics. In parallel, he was also working on a project in collaboration with different laboratories, in an attempt to discover possible recombination in mtDNA from sequences already published.

During his PhD studies (2004-2007), he sought to understand the purpose and diversity of mitochondria in microbial eukaryotes. For this reason, he joined the group of Prof. T. Martin Embley and Dr. Robert Hirt at the Newcastle University. There, he studied the evolution and function of the mitochondrion-related organelles of microsporidia. His studies presented the first experimental evidence for the existence of a remnant mitochondrion (mitosome) in the microsporidian Encephalitozoon cuniculi. His research also demonstrated the first experimental evidence for the localization and function of a non-mitochondrial ATP transporter in the microsporidian mitosome, the presence of which potentially solves the conundrum of how the mitosome acquires its energy. A second set of data from his PhD studies demonstrated that a functional role of the microsporidian mitosome is an essential eukaryotic pathway- iron/suphur (Fe/S) cluster biosyntehsis – believed to be the reason for the existence of this organelle.

As a postdoctoral researcher Anastasios moved to Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia (2008-2011), where he joined Prof. Andrew J. Roger’s group. There he was involved in several investigations on the characterization of mitochondrial pathways in anaerobic protists and how lateral gene transfer (LGT) affects their adaptation to their unique lifestyles. In 2012 he moved the Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic to join Prof. Jan Tachezy’s group (as part of his Marie Curie fellowship), where he initiated several studies on the biochemistry and protein composition of mitochondria in anaerobic microbial eukaryotes.

Tasos is a member of the Microbial Pathogenesis Group.

Professor Mick Tuite joined the School of Biosciences in 1983 after conducting postdoctoral research at the University of California (1978-81) and the University of Oxford (1981-83). He began his research studies on yeast whilst a PhD student under the supervision of Dr Brian Cox at the ‘Botany School’ in Oxford. His research interests have largely focused on the mechanism and control of translation in yeast but more recently his interests have moved to yeast prion proteins and molecular chaperones. The research in his group has been extensively funded by grants from the BBSRC, Wellcome Trust and the Leverhulme Trust.

Mick is a member of the Kent Fungal Group and deputy Chair of the Scientific Conferences Committee of the Microbiology Society.

ORCID ID: 0000-0002-5214-540X

Dr Tobias von der Haar joined the School of Biosciences in 2005. He is a member of the Industrial Biotechnology Centre (IBC), the Yeast Molecular Biology Group and the Kent Fungal Group.

Degrees Held

1995 – Undergraduate Studies, University of Bielefeld, Germany
1998 – PhD, jointly at the German National Biotechnology Centre (GBF), Braunschweig, Germany; and at UMIST, Manchester, UK.

Research Career

• 1998-2004 Postdoctoral Work at UMIST, Manchester
• 2004-2005 Postdoctoral Work at the University of Kent
• 2005-2009 Wellcome Trust Research Career Development Fellowship at the University of Kent
• 2009-2012 Lecturer in Systems Biology, University of Kent
• 2012- 2015 Senior Lecturer in Systems Biology
• 2016 – present Reader in Systems Biology

ORCID: 0000-0002-6031-9254

Professor Martin Warren joined the School of Biosciences in 2005. He is a member of the Industrial Biotechnology and Synthetic Biology Group and the Industrial Biotechnology Centre. Martin was born in Northern Ireland, brought up in County Down, and went to Portora Royal School, Enniskillen. He subsequently went to Southampton University where he read Biochemistry as an undergraduate (1981-1984). He stayed on in the Biochemistry Department to do a PhD with Professor Peter Shoolingin-Jordan, which initiated his interest in the genetics and biochemistry of tetrapyrrole biosynthesis.

After completing his PhD studies, he moved in 1989 to Texas A & M University, where he worked as a research associated with Professor Ian Scott FRS on vitamin B12 biosynthesis. In 1991 he took up a lecturing position in the School of Biological Sciences at Queen Mary, University of London, where he stayed until 1995 when he moved to a Senior Lecturer position at the Institute of Ophthalmology, Univeristy College London. He was promoted to Reader of Biochemistry in 1998 but then moved back to the School of Biological Sciences at Queen Mary in 1999 to take up a Personal Chair. In 2005 he moved to the University of Kent, where he is Professor of Biochemistry. In 2007 he was awarded a BBSRC Professorial Fellowship to work on the bioengineering of complex metabolic pathways.

He has published numerous articles on tetrapyrrole biosynthesis and the biochemistry underlying inherited retinopathies, as well as co-authoring a popular book on the link between tetrapyrrole biosynthesis and the madness of George III.

ORCID ID: 0000-0002-6028-6456

Mark joined the School of Biosciences in October 2012. He obtained his first degree in Natural Sciences at Cambridge University in 2000 followed by a Masters in Computing at Imperial College London. After a few years working in Industry as an IT consultant Mark studied for a PhD with Prof Mike Sternberg at Imperial (2004-2008) and continued onto a post-doctoral position in the group until 2011. In 2011 Mark was awarded a FEBS Long Term Fellowship to work in the group of Alfonso Valencia at the CNIO (Spanish National Cancer Research Centre, Madrid, Spain).

Mark’s research interests are in Structural Bioinformatics particularly the analysis and prediction of protein function, structure and interactions. He is also interested in using such approaches to analyse genetic variation and identify the functional effects that are associated with disease.

Mark is a member of the Cytogenomics and Bioinformatics Group.

ORCID ID: 0000-0001-5428-6479

Dr Richard Williamson joined the School of Biosciences in April 1990. He is a member of the Protein Form and Function Group.

Education and Research Career

• 1986 BSc. Biochemistry. University of Bath
• 1990 PhD Biochemistry. University of Kent / Celltech
• 1990-1996 Post-doctoral Research Assistant. University of
  Kent, (BBSRC/Celltech and MRC project grants)
• 1996-2001 ARC Research Fellow
• 2001-2011 Lecturer in Protein Biochemistry
• 2011- present Senior Lecturer in Protein Biochemistry